Chapter 37

I had a chance to visit the valley - for about a week - and then we were on our way again. I should not have been too worried about the reaction of my ladies since they seemed to find my married status and my rise to Nobility merely humorous - and as something which meant that I was the volunteer for all dirty and heavy tasks. ‘Something that Sir Stian could do.’ Yes, they were worse than Tofi and Baggi had been, and yes, somehow I just loved them for that. Well, Kara tried to pretend that what had happened didn’t matter to her even if it was obvious that it did. Which meant that the others made sure I paid some extra attention to Kara and Balder during my short stay. That - and the promise that she would be along on our first longer trip seemed make her feel better.

I also went to see Luna, and Tariel and that was almost too much for me since I was almost sure that, if I had to stay away for some months, they might not be there to see me anymore. I did my best to be sensible and think that those two had already lived long lives and that their last years had been easy and happy ones. Again, when I compared my situation to what Snorri had been through, I felt almost ashamed - but that didn’t make it easier to say goodbye to my oldest friends here.

Totally another thing was that our sudden success had really woken the interest of our friends in Aston. Practically all the products we brought disappeared onto the tables or shelves of the rich people in Aston who were quite willing to use their surplus gold and silver for the products we had brought. Now our partners had some extra gold and silver in their coffers and they wanted us to do another trip to Sicels - as soon as possible. I would have liked to say no - but the people at Sicels had promised me to gather all the information from those faraway lands that they might have and either make a copy or just give it to us - or to me, Sir Stianelder, a famous merchant and explorer. I was thought that Frode would die of laughter when he heard what had happened to me when I made a quick trip to Aston from the North Islands. This time, we would dare to sail directly south, since there was an almost uncommon moment of peace - or at least a time of no hostilities between our Kingdom and our mainland neighbors. Most likely it would not last, but we intended to make use of it, now that it was possible.

When compared to our first trip this second one was almost a disappointing one since nothing exciting happened during out trip to Sicels and Syracs. I also learned from Tofi and Toki that this second trip had also been at their recommendation since they felt that our crew wasn’t yet ready for a longer journey. It was hard to disagree with that, especially considering how badly Vana’s crew had missed the attacking pirates. Now Snorri was in Vana training the crew to shoot - while I would be responsible for our guns should there be a reason to use them. After all, I had studied at the University and I was a Noble. Being a Noble didn’t release me from my nightly duty of making sure that the two ships remained within a safe distance of each other - but my increased status released the other officers so that they could sleep nights. I guess that my skills would make me the ‘second mate’ for the rest of my life.

In several ways our second visit to Sicels was a copy of the first one - and most likely everybody else had known, or at least guessed, that there would be a second visit. They just forgot to tell me - me, a newly minted Noble and supposed to be leader of these missions. A part of me admitted that this was a sensible thing to do, since the wealth we would get from these missions would be needed to finance those longer missions - and the crew had not been ready to go to the other side of the world yet. My problem was that I had a nagging feeling that, even if there were no signs, we might be running out of time. When this had happened before, those pirates had started to prepare, but they had been late. Now I was afraid that might not happen again.

However, during our visit I dutifully played my part as a lowly, humble Noble who had won the princess - even if not half the Kingdom. In fact, this Noble had to even pay with gold and silver for all our merchandise and the supplies - and if we were to continue this kind of business, the prices we would need to pay would continue to rise as the constant need to fill the state coffers must be satisfied. But, at the moment, the new King was happy and popular; the princess - my wife - was happy, quite pregnant and damned horny; and I had a reputation as a brave explorer and merchant who had, almost all by himself shot two Berber pirate ships to the bottom of the Middle Sea. Mother Earth, I would never hear the end of this.

For me it wasn’t a day too soon when we started our trip back home, and this time I almost hoped that we would have met some new pirates since I was more than ready to shoot them to the bottom of the sea. I almost hoped that. Almost. I was still able to remember how it had felt when all those lives had just ceased to exist or faded away. Maybe there weren’t new faces to remember, but that feeling was more than enough.

Besides the Sicels state coffers, we had also filled the warehouses of our customers for months to come. They didn’t want to flood the markets but rather keep the prices high enough to make a good profit. Our own profits were so good that, if we had not had two ships already, we would be able to buy them how. Instead, with the help of Elise, Birgit and our local trading partners, we started delivering needed supplies to the valley, little by little, so that we would have them there and ready when needed.

My personal favorites were those coffee plants, even though I was told that the possibility that they would produce beans in the valley was very small. Still, we had the beans and the plants - and I trusted that my Elven friends would make it work. If they could grow grapes and make wine out of them, they should be able to do the same with coffee. Meanwhile, I made sure that there were enough beans available for me to roast - and for Tofi and Toki. Those damned greedy captains.

I allowed my thoughts to wander when I saw how the crew expertly used the block and tackle for moving some of our new cargo to the smaller ships of the owners of the restaurant ‘Private Prospects.’ Now I knew that besides that one openly owned restaurant and those smaller coastal vessels, they either owned or had their hands in many other businesses, alone or together with Elise. Luckily for me - or us - their family wasn’t at all narrow-minded and they strongly believed that the way the Magicians and the Shinies acted was a disgrace. Royals and Nobles they could tolerate since they were mostly useful fools - just as I was now.

Useful - I had also been sort of useful to Elise, Alva and Birgit who had had my babies, but who all had made it clear that they didn’t really want me to act as a father to them. Like I could have done that - since now it seemed that I was barely able to see those children I was allowed to see. When I could come back to the valley, I always made sure to have some time to spend with the children but getting close to them was getting harder and harder. There was no relationship like the one I had had with my father, not even something that would remind me of it. All those Elven girls had other people around them every day and I was becoming a stranger who sometimes came to see them. The Elven women saw nothing strange with that, but I felt that I was missing something.

Now there was also Ignatia who had made it clear that even if I was the best bed partner she had ever had, we could not really have a future together - and now that it seemed their Kingdom would be able to balance their budget on their own, it might be better if we didn’t come to visit them anymore - especially when it seemed that the Berbers had partly learned their lesson, for now, and they would be willing to start a trade in goods instead of in people. In a way, I understood Ignatia, since the future of their Kingdom was dependent on trade. Their location, and some good, deep harbors in the Middle Sea made them perfect for that. However, my presence might have complicated things since the Berbers felt that I - not we, but I - had not given them a fair chance to attack us, but I - not we - had attacked them without a warning. Right.

It meant that if the Berbers could catch me, torture me and skin me alive, they would be happy and even willing to do trade with the rest of those crazy people from those North Islands. Well, at least Ignatia had warned me about what could happen if I stayed around. In a way the Berber way of working was very practical; by personalizing the grudge and, with the elimination of the target, it would be easy to normalize relations. Very practical indeed, unless you were that very person they wanted to skin alive.

So, I would remain a Baron and sort of a hero to the people at Sicels, and I also was a person they didn’t want to see any more. Of course, Princess Ignatia would be devastated after losing her second husband, but what wouldn’t she do for helping the people of Sicels by securing the financial position of their Kingdom by making sure that they could trade with all the parties - well, except us. On the other hand, they already had our gold and silver in their coffers. In a way that also made sense - and in more ways than one, I was happy since now we could continue with our original plan.

If I was happy with the end result, Kara was even happier. She had not been happy about Ignatia. Fainauriel had explained it to me: ‘Stian, try to think about it from her viewpoint. First, she admired her grandfather, who was a strong figure. Maybe not a good man, but a strong and feared figure who had a soft spot for a girl who had decided to become a Magician. Then came you, a hunky librarian who didn’t really seem to be afraid of the Magicians even if he said he was. Yes, she had noticed you. Mother Earth, most of the female students probably noticed you. Then you abduct her, save her life a few times and make love to her in a way very few men can.’

At that point I had almost interrupted Fainauriel and reminded her that I hadn’t really made love to Kara until in the valley, but Fainauriel wasn’t done. She continued: ‘Then you drop her, an inexperienced young woman in front of us, your women, your wives. Trust me, we older Elves know quite well how the human women feel about us, even if many of us aren’t even that much interested in their men. Well, there are a few exceptions, as you have found out - but still. Even though Kara is also pretty, very pretty in fact, she’s also insecure - and only time and life experience will help with that. Until then, it’s up to you to make sure that the mother of your little son is okay.’

I took a deep breath of the fresh, salty sea air when I thought about that conversation. It would be up to me to see that Kara was okay, I got that. Only I didn’t know how I felt about her. I sort of liked Birgit, Elise and Alva who had each carried my child, even if they all would raise those children without me. I wasn’t all that sure how much I liked Ignatia, but I had to admire her ability to survive and her ambition. Besides that, she had seemed honest with her concern for the well-being of the people of Sicels. Even Linnea had agreed with that.

But when I thought about Kara, I wasn’t at all sure how I felt. With those three Elven women there was that invisible bond, like a touch of a feather which was connected to some hair-thin wire that led from me to all of them and vice versa. I felt when they were close, and when we expressed our love to each other it was like the thin wire was glowing as it tied us together. We had not really talked about it, but I knew that they felt something similar - and it was something that could make even those older Elven women look a bit insecure. Which didn’t happen easily. When I had once mentioned that special bond to Allynna she had slightly raised her eyebrows, but finally nodded. The Elves knew that phenomenon, but it was quite rare, and the people or couples who had that kind of connection were considered very lucky. To have that happen between more than two persons was something that was almost unheard of.

All those thoughts about old discussions didn’t help me with how I felt towards Kara. I loved her, especially since she was the mother of our son. It just didn’t feel really right when I compared my feelings to how I loved those three other women. Yet there also was a promise I had given to Halvard. A warrior’s promise to another, dying warrior. I almost grimaced. That promise alone was something that would ensure that I would take care of Kara and be good to her in all the ways I could. Even if there wouldn’t be the same kind of love between me and her as there was between me and the other women. That much I owed her - and to Balder.

“I wish that you could be with me during the nights, Stian.”

“I’m here when you wake up, Kara. In a week it will be full moon and there will be days when I’m not needed on the deck if the weather stays clear.”

“I know. But still...”

“At least you have the whole narrow bed most of the night all by yourself - and I don’t mind if you come to wake me up by lunchtime.”

That made Kara blush since, a few times, the thing that she came to ‘wake me up’ had resulted into some activity that could be heard outside the cabin. Luckily our son Balder was a sound sleeper and he still napped during the day. Yes, I had insisted that Balder would be with us on this trip and Kara had been more than happy to agree. Especially when I promised that I’d help with feeding and keeping him clean.

I smiled and kissed Kara’s cheek.

After sailing south for a week in a steady western wind and strong southward current, everything seemed good as the weather also seemed to come warmer day by day. Our ships were loaded with fresh water, cured meat and dried fish that should last long enough that we would be able to avoid the north-west coast of the big southern continent on our eastern side. The reason was simple: Even though the Berber tribes might have different leaders and different targets, they exchanged information among their people. Killing or capturing a main enemy of one Berber tribe would be an important achievement for any tribe and would benefit them. Which meant that we would need to stay far enough at sea to avoid meeting them.

At least both Tofi and Toki had agreed that giving me to them would not probably make those Berbers our friends. Or else, it was Mylaela and Immianthe who had threatened to do something brutal to certain body parts if something happened to me. I couldn’t really help smiling a bit since merging these two groups together had gone much better than I had dared to hope, and together with the men, there were also some women from the North Islands who had moved to live in the valley. Now it looked as if everything would go well, we might be able to build a society of our own.